Elliptic Traces $124M in Bitcoin Swaps From Binance Hack Funds

TL;DR: A November 6 update from blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic says roughly $124 million of assets stolen in the October Binance breach had been converted into Bitcoin, including funds originally held as XRP and SOL. Onchain tracing can reveal movement, but it cannot by itself identify every person controlling those wallets or prove that all the converted funds have been cashed out. The laundering trail from the huge October cryptocurrency theft attributed by investigators to North Korean-linked actors continues to evolve. In a November 6 update to its technical analysis, Elliptic said the value of stolen assets converted into Bitcoin had reached approximately $124 million. The headline figure is striking, but the more useful story concerns how the funds moved, what remains traceable and why conversion into Bitcoin is not the same as spending money through the conventional financial system. The route cuts across multiple blockchains Elliptic’s investigation describes activity involving tens of thousands of wallets, multiple networks and an assortment of services. By its November 6 checkpoint, analysts had identified about 1,650 BTC held in new addresses following conversion ...